Specializing in Avocado and Citrus Trees

Menu

We are very actively working to improve our website and keep it current. You may notice changing backgrounds, links, oddly proportioned photographs and things not working quite right as we work through this process. Our goal is to have a useful, informative and eye pleasing website very soon. Thanks for your patience!

Please browse some of my older but relevant posts below (click on link to Noozhawk) if you haven’t seen them yet while I prepare more articles, photographs and information about services we’ve provided many satisfied and grateful clients. Come back soon!

Just a little bit of fertilizer will nurture growth, health and longevity. When my avocado and citrus trees are happy, I’m happy. When I think of happy fruit trees, I think of green leaves on strong, well-placed branches, lots of fruit and no weed or insect pest bothering them.

Planting an avocado tree — or giving one — can help improve our community relations. Want to do yourself and everyone else in our community a favor? Plant an avocado tree. The tree will help remove excess carbon from the atmosphere, will be a source of a wonderful nutritious fruit to share and enjoy, and will give you shade and beauty as it grows into a mature tree.

Irrigation and mulching are key to keeping the trees healthy and productive. Good water management is the single most important cultural practice in raising healthy, productive avocado trees. If they don’t have enough of it, nothing else matters, and too much can drown the trees or create a soil environment that favors disease.

The shear joy of pruning will make a lasting difference in your orchard. I love fruit trees and what they produce, and I love the ritual of getting them ready for spring called pruning. Pruning is an art and a science, because while trees react in fairly predictable ways when pruned, the reasons for doing so are often determined by an individual’s preferences and sensibilities.

My name is John Schnackenberg and I am a fruit tree care expert based in Santa Barbara California. My mission is to bring my knowledge and experience to people with one to a thousand fruit trees to ensure their optimum health, production and beauty. I am currently available to take on new clients who want their single tree or 10 acre orchard to reach its full potential.

Bio

I was born in Santa Barbara at grew up on a small avocado orchard in Carpinteria. I have been around and involved in agriculture my whole life. I studied Fruit Science at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and earned my B.S. in 1987.

Credentials

I have a B.S. in Pomology (Fruit Science) from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and am a state licensed Pest Control Adviser and state licensed Qualified Applicator. I have experience with nearly every type of fruit variety that can be grown in Santa Barbara County but my main strengths and most experience are in subtropical fruits like avocado and citrus. I am also familiar with ornamental plants and culture and consider gaining knowledge in horticulture a life long process to which I am committed.

My ultimate goal as a licensed Pest Control Adviser is to create an orchard/growing environment that requires minimal or no pesticide use through good cultural practices and preventive actions. When pesticides are necessary I am committed to using the safest products and application methods possible.